A classic ingredient mix with delicious results: Lemon Rosemary Chicken with Bacon

Rosemary, lemon and garlic get dialed up with bacon and red crushed pepper in this Italian-inspired chicken dish. Recipe below.

OUR ROSEMARY PLANT IS CONVENIENTLY THRIVING ON THE BACK PORCH. This after surprising us by successfully wintering over on a windowsill inside. The other day, trying to figure out something to do with some chicken thighs, I stood looking out the back door. And there was the rosemary.

Rosemary, lemon and garlic are often teamed with chicken, especially in Italian cooking. We recently made Tuscan Grilled Lemon Rosemary Chicken here. This time, we wanted to cook on the stovetop and avoid the long marinating time called for with the grilled chicken.

Working with the rosemary, lemon, garlic trio of flavors, we added bacon and crushed red pepper to dial things up for this weeknight-quick dish simmered in lemon juice and chicken broth. The pan liquids reduce somewhat as you cook, but never really thicken into a sauce. But the pan leavings spooned over the chicken add big flavor. The result is both bright and lush tasting.

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Lemon Rosemary Chicken with Bacon

Rosemary, lemon and garlic get dialed up with bacon and red crushed pepper in this Italian-inspired chicken dish.

Course Poultry

Cuisine Italian-inspired

Servings 4 or so (see Kitchen Notes)

Ingredients

• 4 strips bacon
• 4 to 6 chicken thighs (see Kitchen Notes)
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary leaves
• 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon, at least 3 tablespoons of juice
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Instructions

• In a large, lidded skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat.
• Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Place chicken in skillet skin side down, raise heat to medium-high and cook for about 6 minutes. Chicken skin should be nicely golden. Turn chicken and cook another 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate.
• If the chicken produced a good deal of fat in the skillet, pour off all but 2 tablespoons. reduce heat to medium and add butter, swirling to melt it. Add rosemary, garlic and red pepper flakes, if using, to the pan. Cook until fragrant, stirring constantly, about 45 seconds. Stir in lemon juice and broth, scraping up any browned bits.
• Return chicken to pan, along with any accumulated juices. Crumble bacon over and around the chicken (to be honest, we split one strip of bacon—the three remaining strips were plenty). Cover the pan, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until chicken is cooked through, turning the chicken a couple of times to coat with the pan liquid, 10 minutes or more. An instant read thermometer should register at least 165ºF.
• Plate chicken and spoon pan liquids and solids over it. Serve.

Kitchen Notes

How many chicken pieces? We're not sure why, but lately supermarket chicken thighs are packed five to a package. This makes approximately zero sense, other than to hit desired weights on packages. So be flexible on how many pieces you cook unless you need a specific number of servings.

Liz’s Crockery Corner. Marion here. We don't have many pieces of black transferware, and this is the only dish in our collection that has that slightly runny, glowy glaze called "flow black." This is the Vincennes pattern, made from around 1853 to 1860 by John Allcock, who operated at Cobridge, Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire starting in the late 1840s. We know the end date when this dish could have been made because, in 1861, the company changed its name to Henry Alcock (John's son? his nephew?), selling exclusively to the American market. Interestingly, while I've never seen this pattern in blue (the most popular transferware color of all), sometimes it can be found in the color called "mulberry," a red-leaning purple.